Federal Court schedules January hearings for Petronas and Sarawak petitions

In a recent ruling, Justice Rhodzariah Bujang announced that the Federal Court will hear the petitions filed by Petronas and the Sarawak government between Jan 25 and Jan 29, following the sequence of filing. She delegated to the hearing panel the choice of whether to first consider Sarawak’s preliminary issue concerning the validity of the 1954 Alteration of Boundaries Order in Council, which affects the state’s territorial waters.

The court directed both litigants to submit their primary arguments by Jan 11 and their replies by Jan 18, with a case-management conference set for Jan 12. Senior state counsel Adzrul Adzlan will file an application on the preliminary issue under Rule 23 within two weeks, and both parties intend to ask the chief justice for an enlarged bench of nine or eleven judges. Petronas argues its petition, filed on Jan 10, should be heard first, whereas Sarawak, whose petition was filed on Feb 23, maintains it should lead the proceedings. The disputes center on the constitutional competence of the Sarawak legislature and the applicability of several federal petroleum statutes.